With support from NSC of Taiwan, and Science & Technology Division of Taipei Technology and Culture Office in San Francisco, Silicon Valley Taiwanese American Industrial Technology Association (TAITA-SV), in collaboration with several local science & technology associations in the Bay Area, is leading the effort in organizing the 2014 US-Taiwan Biomedical Engineering Forum (UTBEF), which has been envisioned as a forum that could help establish a bridge between US and Taiwan for advancing biotechnology and medical device industry. We are pleased to have medical device industry experts from the US to be part of our UTBEF program on December 6: Mr. William Chang (CTO of Stryker) will share his experience in “From Concept to Product”; Mr. Jay Wei (Founder & CEO of Optovue) will discuss lessons learned during commercialization; Mr. Sean Chai (Director of Technology, Innovation Group at Kaiser) plans to talk about how hospital system can help shape the medical device industry. We also have distinguished scholars from Taiwan: Dr. Ray-Jade Chen (Vice Superintendent, Wan-Fang Medical Center & Professor of Surgery, School of Medicine, Taipei Medical University) will highlight the opportunities and challenges for telehealthcare industry in Taiwan; Dr. Fong-Chin Su is in charge of the Bio-design program in National Cheng-Kung University; Dr. Sai-Wei Yang is responsible for the Stanford-Taiwan Biomedical program in Yang-Ming University; Dr. Feng-Huei Lin and Dr. Yi-You Huang are both professors at Institute of Biomedical Engineering in National Taiwan University and have extensive experience in collaboration between academic and industry sector; Dr. Chih-Han Chang at National Cheng-Kung University is leading the effort in SPARK-Taiwan program, focusing on closing the gap between academic discoveries and their development into products that impact human health. With such vast talents, it’s only appropriate to use “A Holistic Perspective on Medical Device Industry: Innovation, Development, and Commercialization” as the conference theme so we can try to capture this wide range of expertise and experiences. The UTBEF planning committee is certainly excited about this upcoming event, and we hope that you will check out our Eventbrite site (http://2014utbef.eventbrite.com) and join us at Biltmore Hotel & Suits Santa Clara on December 6. Sincerely,2014 UTBEF Planning Committee